My black swan

Faithy starts ballet next week.  When we went to pick out all of her required attire, this is what she wanted.  ALL BLACK.  I was hoping for a pink skirt, or pink tights, or pink leotard.  But nope. 

What color tights do you want Faith, white, black or pink?  "black"

What color leotard do you want Faith, pink, white or black?  "black"

etc.  etc. etc.

So here she is - looking as beautiful and ballet-ish as ever.  She works it :)

Instagram Fun - Mug Swap!!

Almost two years ago I deleted my Facebook account (you can read about that here and here) and a couple of months ago I downgraded my extra appendage known as an iPhone and exchanged it for a phone that is: 1. hard to text with and 2. cannot check email or the internet.  It was kind of my "if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out" moment.  It was affecting my true presence with my family, so I got rid of it.  (I will post about that at another time)

Anyhow, before trading in my iPhone, I was faithfully on Instagram.   When I got rid of it, I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep up with my IG peeps.

Then I discovered that if I took pictures with my camera (that I had to buy of course, because I no longer had a camera phone) I could put them up using our family iPad :)    Yippee!

And because of that, I was able to participate in a super fun exchange sponsored by acuppakim.com!  

Kim, from acuppakim.com held a "mugswap"- a type of secret santa but with coffee/tea mugs.  I was so excited to participate I went right out and purchased a mug before I even got the name of the lovely woman I was to send it to!  In hindsight, I probably should have waited.  I sent a lovely mug, but after seeing what an artistic and creative woman this was, I would have likely sent her something altogether different and more suited to her personality.  I love your love of JOY happymamalisa!  

Next year I will have to up my game a lot.  Come to find out a lot of these swapping ladies are super crafty and artistic!  I sent a mug and some chocolates, they are sending things like "mug rugs" and "mug cozies" and notecards, etc.   ALL HANDMADE.  It was incredible!  So of course I was looking forward to getting my mug - I even took a picture of the box when it arrived -

And then the big reveal!!  This was a mug I had seen before on IG and LOVED.  I love the color, I love the size, I love the owl and I love the little flowers that peek at me as I sip my coffee.

**note how amazing instagram makes my photos look compared to straight from the camera!**

It also came with hot chocolate and homemade sugar cookies :)  You can't go wrong with that!  Thanks  so much thechattymommy.com!

I'm definitely signing up next year :)

Kim

Life Snapshots

Noah read 100 books this summer (either he read them or we read them) - so he earned a medal form the local library, and he gets to meet the mayor and be on local TV!  I am so proud of this guy.

Painting in the street

Blue eyes :)

This is what mom/son time looks like - mom building and rebuilding various lego Star Wars vehicles.

Noah and Faith asked for orange hair - let's just say I earned a "you're the best mom ever!"

I borrowed Faith's sparkly bear to use as a keychain so I wouldn't lose Darren's keys.  It worked!  But she will only let me use it when she is coming with me somewhere.

Noah and Daddy took a trip up north and when they got on the plane to return, Noah was invited into the cockpit and allowed to greet the passengers on the radio :)  He is the only kid I've ever seen that happen to - and it has happened TWICE.

I'm growing a watermelon!  A few actually!

The other morning Darren heard some noises and went out to find 5 turkeys hanging out on our roof!

I was working on something downstairs for a few minutes and heard the kids upstairs, went up to find both of them in my bedroom in their BIGWHEELS??!!  Never a dull moment.

Deborah is finished!

Boy that was a fast 4 weeks.  I am so thankful for Darren, my folks, my nieces, and my buddy Kristen for coming to my aid and doing a whole lotta babysitting so I could get all of my prep work done.  It was a great group of ladies and a very satisfying series to put together. God inspired, challenged, and changed me personally!

Here is the link where you can find all 4 messages.

http://cornerstone-womens-ministry.blogspot.com/p/deborah-study-live-teaching-by-kim.html

Week 2 of Deborah

I have been having such a great time teaching this series!!  Here is the link to week 2

http://soundcloud.com/csf-womens-ministry/deborah-week-2

Week 3 was yesterday so that should be up soon.

I'm teaching a series on Deborah!

I am honored to be presenting a series of messages to the women of Cornerstone Fellowship!

This is part one of Deborah: Woman of Destiny.  It's a study on Judges 4 and 5.

DEBORAH WEEK 1

Did you even know that there was a woman judge in the Old Testament in a position of authority?  

She was a female prophet and quite an amazing lady.  God uses Deborah, a brave Israeli military commander named Barak, and a nomadic tent-dweller named Jael to free the Israelites from oppression.  

Enjoy week one and you can check back to the link for the following weeks.  Week two was yesterday so it may take a day or two to show up.

To my darling Noah on your birthday

Noah,

I cannot believe that six years have passed since I first held you in my arms.  Where has the time gone?

You are my dear, sweet, adored little boy. Sometimes I just stare at you and trace your face with my eyes just to try to take you all in.  With what we went through early on, I was always afraid that somehow our relationship would be damaged... But I am thankful to God that we have such a special bond that I know will last our whole lives.

As we celebrate you turning six, I thought I would comment on some of the things that make you NOAH, along with things that you just plain love right now.

You Noah, are Justice.  You have a sense of what is right, and you want the world to abide by what is right.  In your world, bad guys get put away and good guys save the day.  I truly believe that this Justice is from the Lord, and I look forward to seeing how he chooses to weave it through your destiny.  Maybe you will be a police officer as you have assured us on many occasion (you will marry Jenny or Faithy, be a police officer with a K9, and live with us).  Or maybe you will fight for Justice on a bigger scale.  Who knows.  No matter what, I will forever be proud of you.

You have a compassionate, sensitive heart.  You cry at the end of Monster's Inc. when they shred Boo's door because that means Sully won't see her again - even when you know the end of the movie.  You have explained that you will go to other countries someday to bring food to children that don't have it (In your words, bring flour and oil for them to bake bread, and God will just replenish it like Elisha). When watching just a trailer for the original Star Wars, you were upset because it looked like people "were really getting hurt".  You are so innocent, and we have tried to protect you and to keep your mind filled with only things that a six year old needs to know.  You haven't seen Star Wars.  You haven't seen Transformers (except for the 80's cartoon version).  You haven't seen Spiderman.  In time you will, but not at five or six.

You have an amazing personality and make friends wherever you go.  Kids will play with you and adults will chat with you.  Whether we are at the park, Superfranks, or church, you will inevitably make a couple of new friends that you will play with the entire time.   I had to teach you early on to say "Hi, my name is Noah, do you want to play with me?" and it has served you well.

You have a really fun imagination.  I have seen you take down spies, put bank robbers into jail, put out fires, hand out parking tickets (often to me for entering church through the exit doors) and protect princess Faith as her royal guard.  I love to watch you get into a character!

You are really, really smart.  The way your mind works reminds me of your dad.  You have that engineer brain that can build things and create things.  You once rigged up an impressive sound system that involved a karaoke machine, an MP3 player with microphone, another microphone, and a play kitchen -  it was quite impressive!

You are CHARMING!  And kind.  And sweet.  You love your mom and will tell her she's beautiful.  Sometimes you just stare at me for a long time when I'm reading to you at night and then finally you'll say "I just love you so much, mom".  You always tell us you love us and hug us.  This is one of my favorite things.  You pay compliments to those around you.  You cheer others on with "good job!" or "that was a really good idea!"

You have Favor.  Police officers will let you climb into their cars.  The UPS driver will stop in front of our house for 20 minutes so you can climb around inside the truck and pretend to deliver packages.  Security at an airport gave you a ride on his Segway all the way to our gate.  The captain of a plane let you up in the front to look around and then the flight attendant let you address the passengers on the radio.  These are just a few stories of times where you are singled out to do something cool.  Some of it is your personality and winning smile.  But some of it is simply favor.

Things you love right now: Besides us (you often say your favorite part of the day is having dinner with your family)... Playmobil anything, Lego and Lego 3-in-1, disguises, science, pretending to be a police officer, sneaking book time before you go to sleep, cuddling in the corner pocket of the couch, Clifford (of course), the Andy Griffith Show, America's Funniest Videos, Phineas and Ferb..... and your very best friend, Jenny.

Noah, I am so so proud to be your mom.  My heart is full of love for you and I can only hope that we stay close even during those times where moms aren't cool.  You promised you would still hug me when you are 17 and I am going to hold you to that.  I LOVE YOU - AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The day it all began...

1st birthday

2nd birthday

*meeting your sister*

3rd birthday (aka most awesome FJ Cruiser Bday)

4th birthday

5th birthday

 And... now, showing off some sweet dance moves.

Life as seen from my iPhone...

Homeschooling, potty training, egg hunting, I think we covered it all :)

Had an accident at the gym childcare, but we took care of it with a hip hoodie dress.

Learning about rocks in school so visited a landscaping yard...

And then made a volcano...

And then learned that a wise man builds his house on the ROCK!

We had the easter festivities at our house this year and it was so fun!

Getting a hand from his cousin

I filled a bunch of the eggs with squinkies... then this happened.

and this...

One morning, pre haircuts, Faith wore her sunglasses to breakfast and Noah said he was a security guard from Greece, explaining his orange puffy jacket.

Before and after long overdue haircut!

Someone now uses the potty like a big girl - yay!!! NO MORE DIAPERS!

Daddy made a fort for Faithy to sleep in as a reward for being a big girl :)

The princess

Taught the kids how to make "scissors" out of weeds like I used to do as a kid

Breakfast date with mom

The kids wanted to make a snowman out of balls, so mom made it happen - they were so stoked!

Instafriday!

Here is our life in iPhone pics :)

We just finished studying the letter E and Elephants - the kids loved running around in their paper bag elephant mask!

Noah discovered a new favorite sandwich - peanut butter and banana :)

Somehow Noah has started talking about being a movie star and giving out autographs. Since I monitor his TV closely, I have no idea where he is seeing this depiction of stars, but he comes pretty close when he dresses up and poses like one! (he's not afraid of stripes)

As you know, Noah is going to be a police officer. Here is our current mug-shot wall.

With a name like No Neck Jellyhead you know we've got trouble.

I've decided this isn't a mess, it is proof that the TV is not on and my kids are having fun :)

BFF's

She loves carrots.

Beautiful angel.

In this picture they had just gotten married and were doing their wedding dance. Don't you love Noah's red bow tie? And Faith in a crown of course.

Loving my Ninja smoothies!

Dad thought of a creative way to teach Noah how to crack eggs